Making the most of every bite at Rokeby Primary School

Earlier this year, Rokeby Primary School participated in a project to measure the amount of leftover food and plate waste produced from the Healthy School Lunch Program.

The project was led by student dietitian, Leah Sutherland, who also explored reasons for the leftover food and plate waste, and the schools’ thoughts on how it could be improved. Leah spoke with both staff and students.  

Kitchen supervisors Kathy and Em, and teacher Amy, were particularly interested to find out more about plate waste in the school. The team already works hard to manage potential food waste by sending leftover food home to families and adjusting the amount of food to prepare on the day and cooked food sent to classrooms.  

Once the findings were shared back to the school with recommendations, Kathy, Em and Amy put their heads together to understand the outcomes and plan for solutions. They are planning to work with teachers who serve in the classroom to serve smaller portions, particularly for younger students. Another strategy will be to hold off on starting to prepare the lunches by approximately half an hour each day, to allow time to receive attendance data and adjust the amount of food to cook accordingly.  

Next, the team hopes to take full ownership of the issue and measure their own food waste. They would like to include students in the process as a fun learning activity and provide students with food waste education along the way.  

School Food Matters Curriculum Resources

Want to get students involved too? Schools can find teacher resources in the School Portal to help students learn about food waste and explore what they can do.

If you or your school are interested supporting your students to measure plate waste visit our School Portal or speak with your Program Coordinator.